The Chieftains' new Voice of Ages gives voice to the Civil Wars, the Decemberists, the Low Anthem, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Pistol Annies, and the Secret Sisters, among others, but its identity as a Chieftains album is never in doubt.

Paolo Nutini brings the apt timbre and weary dignity to "Hard Times (Come Again No More)", while The Decemberists' Colin Meloy has the sturdy asperity of a righteous ranter on a version of Dylan's "When The Ship Comes In".